Elections for the office of Texas House of Representatives were held in Texas on November 2, 2010. The signature-filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in these elections was January 4, 2010, the primary election day was on March 2, and the primary runoff was held April 13. All 150 seats are up for election.

The Texas State House is locked in a battle for dominance between the Republican and Democratic parties. Heading into November 2, the Republican Party holds a narrow majority of the 150 seats is the Texas House, with 75 seats to the 73 seats filled with a Democrat, along with two vacancies.

$71.3 million was spent in 2008 on Texas state house campaigns, or an average of $475,000 per seat. Each Texas representative represents about 139,012 residents, based on the state's 2000 census, and serves a two-year term.[1]

Campaign contributions

This chart shows how many candidates ran for state house in Texas in past years and the cumulative amount of dollars raised in state senate races, including contributions in both primary and general election contests. All figures come from Follow The Money.[2]

Year

Number of candidates

Total contributions

2008

361

$71,266,729

2006

425

$65,478,865

2004

285

$44,062,003

2002

365

$37,274,594

Incumbency

Unopposed incumbents

46 incumbents (32%) face no competition in the November 2 general election and are thus, barring unforeseen circumstances, guaranteed re-election in November.

Retiring incumbents

Seven incumbent representatives are not running for re-election, while 143 incumbents (95%) ran for re-election. Of the 7 incumbents who are not running for re-election, 2 are Democrats and 5 are Republican.

Note: Incumbent Brian McCall resigned effective April 2, 2010. After Taylor defeated Jackson in the April 13 primary run-off for the Republican nomination for the November election, Jackson dropped out of the May 10 special election for :The Remainder of McCall's term, and Jackson was appointed state representative. However, because new ballots could not be printed in time, Jackson's named remained on the special election ballot, and she received more votes than Taylor. Because she had already withdrawn, Taylor was declared the special election winner as well.[4]